By Ian King
Second in England vs. Second in Spain
Each groups have been having a little bit of a home wobble just lately. Arsenal have solely received two of their final six within the Premier League, whereas Actual have been considerably surprisingly overwhelmed at residence by struggling Valencia final weekend. In Europe, nonetheless, each have proven their energy, with Arsenal destroying PSV 7-1 in Eindhoven within the final spherical whereas Actual Madrid have already seen off two extraordinarily tough knockout matches, brushing Manchester Metropolis apart with barely a thought within the playoffs after which beating metropolis rival Atlético on penalties within the final spherical.
Historical past
Considerably surprisingly, these two golf equipment have solely ever met in Europe as soon as earlier than, and this makes for good omens for Arsenal. In 2006 they received 1-0 on the Bernabéu after which drew the return match 0-0 on the way in which to their solely look in a Champions League closing. But when we’re speaking historical past, no-one wants a lot telling about Actual’s pedigree. Of the 69 earlier iterations of the Champions League and European Cup they’ve received it 15 instances. Good.
Key gamers
Regardless of the PSV battering, Arsenal have been struggling slightly in entrance of aim just lately. They’ve solely scored greater than two objectives in a Premier League match as soon as since New Yr’s Day. However with prime scorer Kai Havertz out for the season, the place are these objectives coming from? Mikel Merino and Bukayo Saka are their joint highest league scorers within the league behind Havertz with six every, however Leandro Trossard’s spritely efficiency and aim at Goodison on Saturday might imply that he begins and he could also be their greatest probability of guaranteeing {that a} lead is taken to Madrid for the second leg. Actual have been involved that Kylian Mbappé, Dani Ceballos, Antonio Rüdiger and Vinícius Júnior would miss this match because of suspension, however they escaped with fines after a UEFA investigation into their celebrations towards Atlético. That will have been fairly a quartet to overlook.
Group Information
Saka returned to the Arsenal group with no in poor health results final weekend and will begin once more. In any other case, Gabriel Jesus, Kai Havertz, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Gabriel Magalhães are all long-term absentees for Arsenal, whereas Riccardo Calafiori is injured and Raheem Sterling is suspended. Aurélien Tchouaméni is suspended for Actual whereas Dani Carvajal and Éder Militão are long-term accidents. Ferland Mendy, Thibaut Courtois and Dani Ceballos all missed the Valencia sport however ought to all return for this.
Prediction
Once you play Actual Madrid, you’re enjoying a complete weight of historical past. That’s the size of the duty forward of Arsenal on this quarter-final. It’s now been virtually twenty years since they reached their solely Champions League closing, however residence benefit will depend for one thing and up to date home defeats towards Actual Betis and Valencia have left slightly little bit of a query mark over this Actual group, so I’ll go for a comparatively low-key 1-1 draw and all again to the Bernabéu for a tense second leg.
(Cowl picture from IMAGO)
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